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News

As market forces, seasonal flu and extreme weather cause US shortages of intravenous saline solutions to persist, providers writing in NEJM are heartened by idea that federal Homeland Security Department could step in to require manufacturing redundancies. Will industry solve the problem before it becomes a matter of national security?

News

A newly unsealed whistleblower suit filed in Illinois federal court in 2016 alleges the company failed to alert US FDA or customers to software and power cable issues that could have harmed patients and users. Pfizer, which purchased Hospira in 2015 and sold the infusion pump unit in 2017, says the case has no merit, and the government has declined to intervene.

Analysis

Puerto Rico's slow recovery from Hurricane Maria provides insight into what happens when disaster strikes a node of the global pharmaceutical manufacturing network. Initial efforts to ward off US drug shortages focus on generic injectables that can't support expensive business continuity plans – but even critical prescription brands could be threatened if the US territory's power grid remains off line too long.